Features & insight
Features and insight
Expert analysis, reporting and long reads on the platforms, people and strategies shaping social media.
Mainstream culture hasn't disappeared. It just stopped waiting for Hollywood's permission.
New research from YouTube and NRG reveals creators and memes now rival Hollywood celebrities for cultural influence, while The Backrooms franchise shows how digital lore can build a $394 million box office hit from the bottom up.
Snapchat launches event planning to capture what's already happening in DMs
Snapchat Plans landed on 10 September with RSVP tracking for up to 200 guests, turning the platform where a third of young US users already organise plans into a structured event tool built to challenge Partiful and Apple Invites.
Snapchat brings Dynamic Product Ads into Chat as platform tests how far commerce can push into private messaging
Catalog ads are now live in the inbox used by 85% of Snapchatters. The move turns private messaging into a commerce surface and raises the question every platform will have to answer: where does helpful cross into intrusive?
Disney opens El Capitan red carpet to creators as entertainment's power centre shifts
Created in LA runs 17 to 18 September at the El Capitan Theatre and Walt Disney Studios lot, marking Disney's first formal recognition that creators are now storytellers on equal footing with traditional Hollywood.
Six Series A rounds in a single month show creator economy tooling still hunting for repeatable revenue
Creator economy funding hit $1.39bn across 12 deals in September, but half were first institutional rounds. That points to an industry still figuring out which infrastructure layers brands will actually pay for at scale.
Pinterest tells advertisers to launch Q4 campaigns now, not November, as 55% of weekly users still shop post-Christmas
The platform's latest guidance pushes brands to go live between September and November, citing Performance+ testing that showed 28% ROAS improvement for SMB advertisers. With festive activity spiking as early as September and post-Christmas shopping remaining strong, Pinterest is reframing Q4 as a months-long testing window, not a November sprint.
"Just Because Your Output Is a Lot Doesn't Mean Internally There's a Lot of You": Livi Arnold on Skipping Rungs and Buying Her Own Skills
Livi Arnold on doing two rungs of the career ladder at once as an intern, paying to close her own commercial skills gap, and the gap between how big a social operation looks and how big it actually is.
To start, all you need is a pot
In our Social Media Marketing Awards finalist series, The Sauce is looking at the people and campaigns that earned a place on this year's shortlist, the work behind them and what they set out to change. José Rolão of Abelha 7 Trevos is a finalist in Creator & Personal Brand of the Year.
One giveaway, a series of reels and 945 new followers
In our Social Media Marketing Awards finalist series, The Sauce is looking at the campaigns that earned a place on this year's shortlist, the problems they were built to address and the work behind the results. The Soulful Marketing Co is a finalist in Organic Campaign of the Year for The Collaboration Effect.
The Marine Stewardship Council led with fishers instead of facts
In our Social Media Marketing Awards finalist series, The Sauce is looking at the campaigns that earned a place on this year's shortlist, the problems they were built to address and the work behind the results. The Marine Stewardship Council is a finalist in In-House Team.
Instagram pushes into the living room as TV app tests horizontal video and episodic series
Samsung TV launch extends reach to most US connected devices, while casting, Stories on TV, and plans for longer creator formats signal Instagram's bet on shared, lean-back viewing rather than mobile scrolling.
Pinterest's luxury audience spends 87% more than shoppers on other platforms, now growing three times faster than its user base
New research positions Pinterest as the single most effective platform for reaching high-intent luxury buyers, but the real story isn't reach. It's what happens before the purchase decision is made.
Real or Cake? and the 34.8 million views nobody paid for
In our Social Media Marketing Awards finalist series, The Sauce is looking at the campaigns that earned a place on this year's shortlist, the problems they were built to address and the work behind the results. Favola is a finalist in Community Strategy of the Year for Real or Cake?, created for The Entertainer.
Why fatjoe. scores its employees' posts instead of paying a flat rate
In our Social Media Marketing Awards finalist series, The Sauce is looking at the campaigns that earned a place on this year's shortlist, the problems they were built to address and the work behind the results. fatjoe. is a finalist in Employee Advocacy or Social Selling Programme.
Meta's Muse agent sits between your audience and your brand. That changes how social marketing works.
Muse doesn't just answer questions or schedule posts. It books tickets, makes purchases, and decides which brand wins the sale, all without a human clicking through to your landing page.
Pinterest turns its phone-free brand campaign into a couture front row stunt, making offline marketing part of the product
The platform's partnership with designer Claudia Smith London at Fashion Week isn't content marketing. It's a proof-of-concept for brands that need to justify presence over reach.
Social Media Has a Career Ladder Problem, and We Have the Receipts
Our midway report on the Social Media Career Ladder is out today. One in ten practitioners can see a clear path, the entry rung has quietly stopped being an entry rung, and the top of the ladder is emptying at the same time as the bottom.
How MAD//Fest turned its event marketing into a comedy series
In our Social Media Marketing Awards finalist series, The Sauce is looking at the campaigns that earned a place on this year's shortlist, the problems they were built to address and the work behind the results. MAD//Fest is a finalist in Bold Creative Format for MAD//Diaries.
Building an education business around giving knowledge away
In our Social Media Marketing Awards finalist series, The Sauce is looking at the people and campaigns that earned a place on this year's shortlist, the work behind them and what they set out to change. Oluchi Imoh is a finalist in Industry Educator.
How Grape Tree built an influencer partnership around expertise rather than reach
In our Social Media Marketing Awards finalist series, The Sauce is looking at the campaigns that earned a place on this year's shortlist, the problems they were built to address and the work behind the results. CNS Media is a finalist in Influencer Campaign for its work with Grape Tree.
Had you noticed that noticed. built a million-pound agency on LinkedIn alone
In our Social Media Marketing Awards finalist series, The Sauce is looking at the campaigns that earned a place on this year's shortlist, the problems they were built to address and the work behind the results. noticed. is a finalist in Best Use of a Single Platform.
How Forest Feast launched its first brand collaboration with 38 creators
In our Social Media Marketing Awards finalist series, The Sauce is looking at the campaigns that earned a place on this year's shortlist, the problems they were built to address and the work behind the results. Forest Feast is a finalist in Influencer Campaign for its Matcha Chocolate Almonds launch with PerfectTed.
Comms Creatives built a following by making comms people laugh
In our Social Media Marketing Awards finalist series, The Sauce is looking at the campaigns that earned a place on this year's shortlist, the problems they were built to address and the work behind the results. Comms Creatives is a finalist in Small Business Social Media of the Year.
